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POLITICO 44

On this day in 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt was captured on film, riding in a parade in his honor during a visit to San Francisco. The movie lasts one minute and 37 seconds, and runs at 15 frames per second, half the speed of modern movie cameras.

TR came to San Francisco for the dedication of the Dewey Monument in Union Square, which took place two days later and was also recorded on film. The monument commemorates the victory of Adm. George Dewey and the U.S. Navy in Manila Bay of the Philippines, on May 1, 1898, during the Spanish-American War. President William McKinley, Roosevelt’s predecessor, broke ground for the monument on May 12, 1901. He was assassinated that September.

A cameraman named H.J. Miles recorded the brief parade on film, which was entitled, “The President’s Carriage.” It was subsequently shown on nickelodeons in arcades across the country. The film shows Roosevelt’s carriage, escorted by the Ninth U.S. Cavalry Regiment. The escort party, according to newspaper accounts, consisted entirely of black soldiers, an unusual occurrence at the time.

TR was the first president to have his career and life chronicled in motion pictures, though his predecessors, Grover Cleveland and McKinley, were the first to be filmed. Until his death in 1919, TR encouraged filmmakers to document his official duties and, after leaving office, his personal activities. As a speechmaker, he would often play directly to the still-silent movie cameras, using extravagant gestures.

The Library of Congress now holds much of this footage, including that of his second inaugural ceremony in 1905, a visit to Panama in 1906 and an African safari in 1909.

Source: U.S. Library of Congress and the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco